Tunnelling our future #edcmooc

#EDCMOOC Assignment

Jo Jacob

Theme: Utopias and Dystopias

Watching Intel’s video ‘Bridging Our Future’

made me very uneasy with this spotlessly clean

utopian vision of the future.

If you haven’t watched it, here it is:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYMd-

7Ng9Y8

It got me interested in the use of the bridge

metaphor.

The #EDCMOOC discussion forum led

me and others to question aspects of

this utopia:

Who is keeping everything so spotless? What sort of

education have the cleaners had?

What if this style of education doesn’t suit you

because you have a disability or a learning difficulty?

What if you or your education system can’t afford all

the technology?

Is this vision of a ‘cut and paste’ education really

desirable?

What does the ‘bridge’ metaphor signify?

davidd (2009) Sparking Robot via Flickr

Tunnelling

In some senses a tunnel has the same function as a bridge - it is a physical link between two spaces, you could use it for road, rail, water, cabling etc. You can travel in more than one direction.

However it is also in opposition to a bridge. A bridge is above ground, in the air, in the sky. You can look up at a bridge, and you can look down from a bridge. You can climb up it, and even jump off it. Tunnelling happens underground, it is dark, dirty and often invisible to people above ground. If you are in a tunnel, you probably can't look up at the sky. It is physically difficult to get out of a tunnel, and you can only follow the tunnel (unless you tunnel).

Tunnelling is done by odd creatures

such as moles, or machines with

human names – see for example

http://www.crossrail.co.uk/constructi

on/tunnelling/meet-our-giant-

tunnelling-machines/

Crossrail tunnel boring machine in London

Tunnelling our future sounds much less appealing, but must be quite close to the truth. Much of our online activity must be enabled by underground power cables, underground broadband connections etc. Of course there are satellite signals and wifi etc 'up in the air' but we can't yet charge our devices through the air.

A tunnel is therefore not going to be the aspirational and upward looking metaphor that a bridge is. A bridge makes links between two clearly visible points - we can see where we are going. Tunnelling is more uncertain and messier.

But...

Tunnelling is a way to by-pass governments and giant global corporations that seek to limit our interests and progress. We may want to do things that are 'not supported' by the official protocols, but that doesn't mean we can't do them!

Bidgee (2010) Fibre optic cable in an underground service pit, via Google Images

'Underground‘ has an anti-establishment,

counter-culture connotation, implying secrecy

and illicit behaviour (e.g. 'underground

railroad'). One other sense of tunnelling is an

escape to freedom, that one is currently

confined in some awful condition (e.g. a

prisoner of war camp).

Are learners beginning, through MOOCS and

other Open Educational Resources (OER), to

break free and gain the knowledge and skills

they want while bypassing fees and exams?

How long will the educational establishment

tolerate this underground activity?

l k o (2013) io-robot via Flickr

Learning may be 'deeply' transformational. What learners learn is not always what the teacher tried to teach them. We may not know what the learner actually took away from the learning experience, as it happens beneath the surface.

Brian J Matis (2010) I guess it makes sense for a robot to read an e-book via Flickr

Tunnelling Our Future!

Maybe tunnelling can be a new way to think

about getting the education we want and need.

Maybe the official educational bridges between

school and work are not the only way.

Maybe we can bypass educational

establishments and corporations to forge new

ways to knowledge.

What do you think?

Stefan Klauke (2013) Cell Phone Business via Flickr